‘A lot going for it’: Wanaka rich-lister to develop Timaru site

Thursday, 1 February 2024

Developer Allan Dippie has purchased the properties on the corner of Grants Rd and Evans St/SH1, and says Timaru “looks prosperous and growing”.

Wanaka rich-lister, property developer and businessman Allan Dippie is looking beyond his Central Otago base, and has bought land for development in Timaru.

“It’s got a lot going for it, looks prosperous and growing,” Dippie said, when asked why he had invested in the town.

He added, it was also something he had always wanted to do.

Developer Allan Dippie says he is yet to decide how to develop the properties on the corner of Evans St and Grants Rd.

“We thought we’d just try it out, not on a big scale project.”

Dippie has bought a block of shops and office premises on the intersection of Grants Rd and Evans St/State Highway 1 as well as two neighbouring residential properties on Evans St and another commercial premises next door, on Grants Rd.

The land is adjacent to the new Showgrounds retail development.

“We’re trying to get cracking this year,” Dippie said of development at the site.

The properties purchased by developer Allan Dippie include this row of retail premises on Evans St/SH1.

“But we’re not sure what exactly we’ll be doing, and until we do, it’s a bit silly demolishing the existing buildings.”

He said all of the properties he had purchased are vacant.

Dippie, who owns Nichol’s Garden Centre businesses in Dunedin, Invercargill and Cromwell, dismissed the possibility of a Nichol’s being built on the site.

“We’re working on different options.”

An aerial view showing The Showgrounds development at the top of the photo and the land purchased by Allan Dippie at the bottom right.

Dippie’s parents, Neville and Gaynor Dippie once owned Nichol’s Garden Centre in Dunedin, which Dippie and his brother Martin took over and expanded.

Dippie, and his wife Elizabeth, established Willowridge Developments and have built hundreds of homes in and around Wanaka as the town grew and thrived.

The Dippie brothers are involved in real estate, property development, construction, landscaping, garden and hardware retailing, and contracting.

The Fastlane Car Wash, pictured at left, opened in Timaru in December.

The development will be one of several in the vicinity in recent months. In December, Fastlane Car Wash opened a five self-service bay, 24 hour a day car wash opposite the buildings owned by Dippie, near the entrance to The Showgrounds.

At the time, Fastland Car Wash Timaru director Hugh Gardiner told The Timaru Herald the district had a lot going for it.

“We were looking for anywhere out of Auckland that had a good demographic and climate was also a huge factor. Timaru was our first choice,’’ he said.

An aerial view of The Showgrounds development in Timaru showing a pile of excavated material where developer Tony Gapes hopes stage two of the development will be underway by the middle of the year.

There have also been a number of businesses close or relocate from the area, with some citing struggles with ongoing roadworks and traffic delays as a concern.

In November 2022, work on the road outside JK’s Polynesian Kitchen, formerly at 208 Evans St, blocked off parking.

At the time, co-owner Edna Crichton said about 95% of their income had been lost after the roadworks began.

The business had since closed.

In November 2023, PGG Wrighton’s Timaru rural supplies store relocated from nearby premises in Evans St, to 325 Hilton Highway, Washdyke, to a new building which combined the company store, office, and warehouse under one roof.

Timaru businessman Darryl Pyke has also aired his frustrations over delays to the replacement of the Taitarakihi Creek box culvert work, under State Highway 1/Evans St, and at the corner of his motor vehicle yard, which sits on the other side of the intersection.

As part of work on The Showgrounds site, developer Redwood Group was required to replace the existing culvert, an area recognised by the council’s stormwater management plan as “arguably the highest flood risk area’’ in the town.

The culvert work formed part of the permanent intersection works at The Showgrounds, and was required as part of the developers’ resource consent, which was meant to be completed by March 2024.

In September 2023, developer Tony Gapes said they were “not required to do any further works to the highway … aside from any repair work that could be necessary” until they built the second stage of The Showgrounds.

An email from the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi to stakeholders that month said it had “commenced the process of breaking the legal contract agreement between ourselves and Redwood Group in regards to the SH1 culvert renewal”.

In November, the agency said there would be short-term delays for road users at the intersection and culvert, where holding repairs were the only option until more permanent repairs could be completed.